Non-Volatile Memory System Allowing Reverse Eviction of Data Updates to Non-Volatile Binary Cache

ABSTRACT

A non-volatile memory system includes a memory section having a non-volatile cache portion storing data in a binary format, a primary user data storage section that stores user data in multi-state format, and an update memory area where the memory system stores data updating user data previously stored in the primary user data. The memory system allows a maximum number of blocks for use in the update memory area. When the memory system receives updated data corresponding to user data already written into the primary user data storage section, it determines whether a block of memory is available in the update memory area. In response to determining that a block of memory is not available in the update memory area, the system determines a block of the update memory to remove from the update memory; copies the data content of the determined update block into the cache portion of the memory section; and subsequently writes the updated data into the update memory.

BACKGROUND

This application relates to the operation of re-programmable non-volatile memory systems such as semiconductor flash memory, and, more specifically, to the management of the interface between a host device and the memory.

Solid-state memory capable of nonvolatile storage of charge, particularly in the form of EEPROM and flash EEPROM packaged as a small form factor card, has recently become the storage of choice in a variety of mobile and handheld devices, notably information appliances and consumer electronics products. Unlike RAM (random access memory) that is also solid-state memory, flash memory is non-volatile, and retaining its stored data even after power is turned off. Also, unlike ROM (read only memory), flash memory is rewritable similar to a disk storage device. In spite of the higher cost, flash memory is increasingly being used in mass storage applications. Conventional mass storage, based on rotating magnetic medium such as hard drives and floppy disks, is unsuitable for the mobile and handheld environment. This is because disk drives tend to be bulky, are prone to mechanical failure and have high latency and high power requirements. These undesirable attributes make disk-based storage impractical in most mobile and portable applications. On the other hand, flash memory, both embedded and in the form of a removable card is ideally suited in the mobile and handheld environment because of its small size, low power consumption, high speed and high reliability features.

Flash EEPROM is similar to EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory) in that it is a non-volatile memory that can be erased and have new data written or “programmed” into their memory cells. Both utilize a floating (unconnected) conductive gate, in a field effect transistor structure, positioned over a channel region in a semiconductor substrate, between source and drain regions. A control gate is then provided over the floating gate. The threshold voltage characteristic of the transistor is controlled by the amount of charge that is retained on the floating gate. That is, for a given level of charge on the floating gate, there is a corresponding voltage (threshold) that must be applied to the control gate before the transistor is turned “on” to permit conduction between its source and drain regions. In particular, flash memory such as Flash EEPROM allows entire blocks of memory cells to be erased at the same time.

The floating gate can hold a range of charges and therefore can be programmed to any threshold voltage level within a threshold voltage window. The size of the threshold voltage window is delimited by the minimum and maximum threshold levels of the device, which in turn correspond to the range of the charges that can be programmed onto the floating gate. The threshold window generally depends on the memory device's characteristics, operating conditions and history. Each distinct, resolvable threshold voltage level range within the window may, in principle, be used to designate a definite memory state of the cell.

The transistor serving as a memory cell is typically programmed to a “programmed” state by one of two mechanisms. In “hot electron injection,” a high voltage applied to the drain accelerates electrons across the substrate channel region. At the same time a high voltage applied to the control gate pulls the hot electrons through a thin gate dielectric onto the floating gate. In “tunneling injection,” a high voltage is applied to the control gate relative to the substrate. In this way, electrons are pulled from the substrate to the intervening floating gate. While the term “program” has been used historically to describe writing to a memory by injecting electrons to an initially erased charge storage unit of the memory cell so as to alter the memory state, it has now been used interchangeable with more common terms such as “write” or “record.”

The memory device may be erased by a number of mechanisms. For EEPROM, a memory cell is electrically erasable, by applying a high voltage to the substrate relative to the control gate so as to induce electrons in the floating gate to tunnel through a thin oxide to the substrate channel region (i.e., Fowler-Nordheim tunneling.) Typically, the EEPROM is erasable byte by byte. For flash EEPROM, the memory is electrically erasable either all at once or one or more minimum erasable blocks at a time, where a minimum erasable block may consist of one or more sectors and each sector may store 512 bytes or more of data.

The memory device typically comprises one or more memory chips that may be mounted on a card. Each memory chip comprises an array of memory cells supported by peripheral circuits such as decoders and erase, write and read circuits. The more sophisticated memory devices also come with a controller that performs intelligent and higher level memory operations and interfacing.

There are many commercially successful non-volatile solid-state memory devices being used today. These memory devices may be flash EEPROM or may employ other types of nonvolatile memory cells. Examples of flash memory and systems and methods of manufacturing them are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,070,032, 5,095,344, 5,315,541, 5,343,063, and 5,661,053, 5,313,421 and 6,222,762. In particular, flash memory devices with NAND string structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,315, 5,903,495, 6,046,935. Also nonvolatile memory devices are also manufactured from memory cells with a dielectric layer for storing charge. Instead of the conductive floating gate elements described earlier, a dielectric layer is used. Such memory devices utilizing dielectric storage element have been described by Eitan et al., “NROM: A Novel Localized Trapping, 2-Bit Nonvolatile Memory Cell,” IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 21, no. 11, November 2000, pp. 543-545. An ONO dielectric layer extends across the channel between source and drain diffusions. The charge for one data bit is localized in the dielectric layer adjacent to the drain, and the charge for the other data bit is localized in the dielectric layer adjacent to the source. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,768,192 and 6,011,725 disclose a nonvolatile memory cell having a trapping dielectric sandwiched between two silicon dioxide layers. Multi-state data storage is implemented by separately reading the binary states of the spatially separated charge storage regions within the dielectric.

In order to improve read and program performance, multiple charge storage elements or memory transistors in an array are read or programmed in parallel. Thus, a “page” of memory elements are read or programmed together. In existing memory architectures, a row typically contains several interleaved pages or it may constitute one page. All memory elements of a page will be read or programmed together.

In flash memory systems, erase operation may take as much as an order of magnitude longer than read and program operations. Thus, it is desirable to have the erase block of substantial size. In this way, the erase time is amortized over a large aggregate of memory cells.

The nature of flash memory predicates that data must be written to an erased memory location. If data of a certain logical address from a host is to be updated, one way is rewrite the update data in the same physical memory location. That is, the logical to physical address mapping is unchanged. However, this will mean the entire erase block contain that physical location will have to be first erased and then rewritten with the updated data. This method of update is inefficient, as it requires an entire erase block to be erased and rewritten, especially if the data to be updated only occupies a small portion of the erase block. It will also result in a higher frequency of erase recycling of the memory block, which is undesirable in view of the limited endurance of this type of memory device.

Data communicated through external interfaces of host systems, memory systems and other electronic systems are addressed and mapped into the physical locations of a flash memory system. Typically, addresses of data files generated or received by the system are mapped into distinct ranges of a continuous logical address space established for the system in terms of logical blocks of data (hereinafter the “LBA interface”). The extent of the address space is typically sufficient to cover the full range of addresses that the system is capable of handling. In one example, magnetic disk storage drives communicate with computers or other host systems through such a logical address space. This address space has an extent sufficient to address the entire data storage capacity of the disk drive.

Flash memory systems are most commonly provided in the form of a memory card or flash drive that is removably connected with a variety of hosts such as a personal computer, a camera or the like, but may also be embedded within such host systems. When writing data to the memory, the host typically assigns unique logical addresses to sectors, clusters or other units of data within a continuous virtual address space of the memory system. Like a disk operating system (DOS), the host writes data to, and reads data from, addresses within the logical address space of the memory system. A controller within the memory system translates logical addresses received from the host into physical addresses within the memory array, where the data are actually stored, and then keeps track of these address translations. The data storage capacity of the memory system is at least as large as the amount of data that is addressable over the entire logical address space defined for the memory system.

In current commercial flash memory systems, the size of the erase unit has been increased to a block of enough memory cells to store multiple sectors of data. Indeed, many pages of data are stored in one block, and a page may store multiple sectors of data. Further, two or more blocks are often operated together as metablocks, and the pages of such blocks logically linked together as metapages. A page or metapage of data are written and read together, which can include many sectors of data, thus increasing the parallelism of the operation. Along with such large capacity operating units the challenge is to operate them efficiently.

For ease of explanation, unless otherwise specified, it is intended that the term “block” as used herein refer to either the block unit of erase or a multiple block “metablock,” depending upon whether metablocks are being used in a specific system. Similarly, reference to a “page” herein may refer to a unit of programming within a single block or a “metapage” within a metablock, depending upon the system configuration.

When the currently prevalent LBA interface to the memory system is used, files generated by a host to which the memory is connected are assigned unique addresses within the logical address space of the interface. The memory system then commonly maps data between the logical address space and pages of the physical blocks of memory. The memory system keeps track of how the logical address space is mapped into the physical memory but the host is unaware of this. The host keeps track of the addresses of its data files within the logical address space but the memory system operates with little or no knowledge of this mapping.

Another problem with managing flash memory system has to do with system control and directory data. The data is produced and accessed during the course of various memory operations. Thus, its efficient handling and ready access will directly impact performance. It would be desirable to maintain this type of data in flash memory because flash memory is meant for storage and is nonvolatile. However, with an intervening file management system between the controller and the flash memory, the data can not be accessed as directly. Also, system control and directory data tends to be active and fragmented, which is not conducive to storing in a system with large size block erase. Conventionally, this type of data is set up in the controller RAM, thereby allowing direct access by the controller. After the memory device is powered up, a process of initialization enables the flash memory to be scanned in order to compile the necessary system control and directory information to be placed in the controller RAM. This process takes time and requires controller RAM capacity, all the more so with ever increasing flash memory capacity.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,567,307 discloses a method of dealing with sector updates among large erase block including recording the update data in multiple erase blocks acting as scratch pad and eventually consolidating the valid sectors among the various blocks and rewriting the sectors after rearranging them in logically sequential order. In this way, a block needs not be erased and rewritten at every slightest update.

WO 03/027828 and WO 00/49488 both disclose a memory system dealing with updates among large erase block including partitioning the logical sector addresses in zones. A small zone of logical address range is reserved for active system control data separate from another zone for user data. In this way, manipulation of the system control data in its own zone will not interact with the associated user data in another zone. Updates are at the logical sector level and a write pointer points to the corresponding physical sectors in a block to be written. The mapping information is buffered in RAM and eventually stored in a sector allocation table in the main memory. The latest version of a logical sector will obsolete all previous versions among existing blocks, which become partially obsolete. Garbage collection is performed to keep partially obsolete blocks to an acceptable number.

Prior art systems tend to have the update data distributed over many blocks or the update data may render many existing blocks partially obsolete. The result often is a large amount of garbage collection necessary for the partially obsolete blocks, which is inefficient and causes premature aging of the memory. Also, there is no systematic and efficient way of dealing with sequential update as compared to non-sequential update.

Flash memory with a block management system employing a mixture of sequential and chaotic update blocks is disclosed in United States Patent Publication No. US-2005-0144365-A1 dated Jun. 30, 2005, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Prior art has disclosed flash memory systems operating with a cache and operating in mixed MLC (multi-level cell) and SLC (single-level cell) modes and with the SLC memory operating as a dedicated cache. However, the cache disclosed is mainly to buffer the data between a fast host and a slower MLC memory and for accumulation to write to a block. These systems mostly treat the cache memory at a high level as storage and ignoring the underlying low level operating considerations of the block structure and its update scheme. The following publications are examples of these prior art.

Using RAM in a write cache operating with a flash memory has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,936,971 to Harari et al. Partitioning the memory into two portions one operating in binary and the other in MLC has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,167 to Lee et al and U.S. Pat. No. 6,456,528 to Chen, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated therein by reference.

United States Patent Publication Number: Publication Number: US-2007-0061502-A1 on Mar. 15, 2007 and US-2007-0283081-A1 dated Dec. 6, 2007 by Lasser both disclose a flash memory operating in mixed MLC and SLC modes. A specific portion of the memory is always allocated to operate in SLC mode and to serve as a dedicated cache.

Therefore there is a general need for high capacity and high performance non-volatile memory. In particular, there is a need to have a high capacity nonvolatile memory able to conduct memory operations in large blocks without the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a general aspect of the invention, a method of operating a non-volatile memory system is presented. The memory system includes a controller circuit and a memory section formed on one or more integrated circuits, the memory section having: a non-volatile cache portion storing data in a binary format; a primary user data storage section of flash memory wherein the memory system stores user data in multi-state format; and an update memory area where the memory system stores data updating user data previously stored in the primary user data storage section. The memory system allows a maximum number of blocks of memory cells for use in the update memory area. The method includes receiving at the controller updated data corresponding to user data already written into the primary user data storage section and determining whether a block of memory is available in the update memory area. In response to determining that a block of memory is available in the update memory area, the system writes the updated data to the available block. In response to determining that a block of memory is not available in the update memory area, the system determines a block of the update memory to remove from the update memory; copies the data content of the determined update block into the cache portion of the memory section; and subsequently writes the updated data into the update memory.

Various aspects, advantages, features and embodiments of the present invention are included in the following description of exemplary examples thereof, which description should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. All patents, patent applications, articles, other publications, documents and things referenced herein are hereby incorporated herein by this reference in their entirety for all purposes. To the extent of any inconsistency or conflict in the definition or use of terms between any of the incorporated publications, documents or things and the present application, those of the present application shall prevail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates schematically the main hardware components of a memory system suitable for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a non-volatile memory cell.

FIG. 3 illustrates the relation between the source-drain current I_(D) and the control gate voltage V_(CG) for four different charges Q1-Q4 that the floating gate may be selectively storing at any one time.

FIG. 4A illustrates schematically a string of memory cells organized into an NAND string.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of an NAND array 210 of memory cells, constituted from NAND strings 50 such as that shown in FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 illustrates a page of memory cells, organized for example in the NAND configuration, being sensed or programmed in parallel.

FIGS. 6(0)-6(2) illustrate an example of programming a population of 4-state memory cells.

FIGS. 7A-7E illustrate the programming and reading of the 4-state memory encoded with a given 2-bit code.

FIG. 7F illustrates a foggy-fine programming for an 8-state memory encoded with a given 3-bit code.

FIG. 8 illustrates the memory being managed by a memory manager with is a software component that resides in the controller.

FIG. 9 illustrates the software modules of the back-end system.

FIGS. 10A(i)-10A(iii) illustrate schematically the mapping between a logical group and a metablock. FIG. 10B illustrates schematically the mapping between logical groups and metablocks.

FIG. 11 illustrates a host operating with the flash memory device through a series of caches at different levels of the system.

FIG. 12 outlines the on-memory folding process where the data from multiple word lines written in a binary format are rewritten into a multi-state format.

FIG. 13 illustrates aspects of the folding process in more detail.

FIG. 14 shows another example of a non-volatile memory that includes both binary and multi-state memory portions.

FIGS. 15-18 illustrate the use of a virtual update block.

FIG. 19 shows a further example of a non-volatile memory that includes both binary and multi-state memory portions.

FIG. 20 illustrates some possible placements of data when the sends updated content to the memory system and some of the memory sections involved.

FIG. 21 is a flow for an exemplary embodiment for the writing of updated data that includes a reverse eviction from the update memory to the binary cache.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Memory System

FIG. 1 to FIG. 7 provide example memory systems in which the various aspects of the present invention may be implemented or illustrated.

FIG. 8 to FIG. 13 illustrate one memory and block architecture for implementing the various aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates schematically the main hardware components of a memory system suitable for implementing the present invention. The memory system 90 typically operates with a host 80 through a host interface. The memory system is typically in the form of a memory card or an embedded memory system. The memory system 90 includes a memory 200 whose operations are controlled by a controller 100. The memory 200 comprises of one or more array of non-volatile memory cells distributed over one or more integrated circuit chip. The controller 100 includes an interface 110, a processor 120, an optional coprocessor 121, ROM 122 (read-only-memory), RAM 130 (random access memory) and optionally programmable nonvolatile memory 124. The interface 110 has one component interfacing the controller to a host and another component interfacing to the memory 200. Firmware stored in nonvolatile ROM 122 and/or the optional nonvolatile memory 124 provides codes for the processor 120 to implement the functions of the controller 100. Error correction codes may be processed by the processor 120 or the optional coprocessor 121. In an alternative embodiment, the controller 100 is implemented by a state machine (not shown.) In yet another embodiment, the controller 100 is implemented within the host.

Physical Memory Structure

FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a non-volatile memory cell. The memory cell 10 can be implemented by a field-effect transistor having a charge storage unit 20, such as a floating gate or a dielectric layer. The memory cell 10 also includes a source 14, a drain 16, and a control gate 30.

There are many commercially successful non-volatile solid-state memory devices being used today. These memory devices may employ different types of memory cells, each type having one or more charge storage element.

Typical non-volatile memory cells include EEPROM and flash EEPROM. Examples of EEPROM cells and methods of manufacturing them are given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,924. Examples of flash EEPROM cells, their uses in memory systems and methods of manufacturing them are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,070,032, 5,095,344, 5,315,541, 5,343,063, 5,661,053, 5,313,421 and 6,222,762. In particular, examples of memory devices with NAND cell structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,315, 5,903,495, 6,046,935. Also, examples of memory devices utilizing dielectric storage element have been described by Eitan et al., “NROM: A Novel Localized Trapping, 2-Bit Nonvolatile Memory Cell,” IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 21, no. 11, November 2000, pp. 543-545, and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,768,192 and 6,011,725.

In practice, the memory state of a cell is usually read by sensing the conduction current across the source and drain electrodes of the cell when a reference voltage is applied to the control gate. Thus, for each given charge on the floating gate of a cell, a corresponding conduction current with respect to a fixed reference control gate voltage may be detected. Similarly, the range of charge programmable onto the floating gate defines a corresponding threshold voltage window or a corresponding conduction current window.

Alternatively, instead of detecting the conduction current among a partitioned current window, it is possible to set the threshold voltage for a given memory state under test at the control gate and detect if the conduction current is lower or higher than a threshold current. In one implementation the detection of the conduction current relative to a threshold current is accomplished by examining the rate the conduction current is discharging through the capacitance of the bit line.

FIG. 3 illustrates the relation between the source-drain current I_(D) and the control gate voltage V_(CG) for four different charges Q1-Q4 that the floating gate may be selectively storing at any one time. The four solid I_(D) versus V_(CG) curves represent four possible charge levels that can be programmed on a floating gate of a memory cell, respectively corresponding to four possible memory states. As an example, the threshold voltage window of a population of cells may range from 0.5V to 3.5V. Seven possible memory states “0”, “1” “2”, “3”, “4”, “5”, “6”, respectively representing one erased and six programmed states may be demarcated by partitioning the threshold window into five regions in interval of 0.5V each. For example, if a reference current, IREF of 2 μA is used as shown, then the cell programmed with Q1 may be considered to be in a memory state “1” since its curve intersects with I_(REF) in the region of the threshold window demarcated by VCG=0.5V and 1.0V. Similarly, Q4 is in a memory state “5”.

As can be seen from the description above, the more states a memory cell is made to store, the more finely divided is its threshold window. For example, a memory device may have memory cells having a threshold window that ranges from −1.5V to 5V. This provides a maximum width of 6.5V. If the memory cell is to store 16 states, each state may occupy from 200 mV to 300 mV in the threshold window. This will require higher precision in programming and reading operations in order to be able to achieve the required resolution.

FIG. 4A illustrates schematically a string of memory cells organized into an NAND string. An NAND string 50 comprises of a series of memory transistors M1, M2, . . . Mn (e.g., n=4, 8, 16 or higher) daisy-chained by their sources and drains. A pair of select transistors S1, S2 controls the memory transistors chain's connection to the external via the NAND string's source terminal 54 and drain terminal 56 respectively. In a memory array, when the source select transistor S1 is turned on, the source terminal is coupled to a source line (see FIG. 4B). Similarly, when the drain select transistor S2 is turned on, the drain terminal of the NAND string is coupled to a bit line of the memory array. Each memory transistor 10 in the chain acts as a memory cell. It has a charge storage element 20 to store a given amount of charge so as to represent an intended memory state. A control gate 30 of each memory transistor allows control over read and write operations. As will be seen in FIG. 4B, the control gates 30 of corresponding memory transistors of a row of NAND string are all connected to the same word line. Similarly, a control gate 32 of each of the select transistors S1, S2 provides control access to the NAND string via its source terminal 54 and drain terminal 56 respectively. Likewise, the control gates 32 of corresponding select transistors of a row of NAND string are all connected to the same select line.

When an addressed memory transistor 10 within an NAND string is read or is verified during programming, its control gate 30 is supplied with an appropriate voltage. At the same time, the rest of the non-addressed memory transistors in the NAND string 50 are fully turned on by application of sufficient voltage on their control gates. In this way, a conductive path is effective created from the source of the individual memory transistor to the source terminal 54 of the NAND string and likewise for the drain of the individual memory transistor to the drain terminal 56 of the cell. Memory devices with such NAND string structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,315, 5,903,495, 6,046,935.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of an NAND array 210 of memory cells, constituted from NAND strings 50 such as that shown in FIG. 4A. Along each column of NAND strings, a bit line such as bit line 36 is coupled to the drain terminal 56 of each NAND string. Along each bank of NAND strings, a source line such as source line 34 is couple to the source terminals 54 of each NAND string. Also the control gates along a row of memory cells in a bank of NAND strings are connected to a word line such as word line 42. The control gates along a row of select transistors in a bank of NAND strings are connected to a select line such as select line 44. An entire row of memory cells in a bank of NAND strings can be addressed by appropriate voltages on the word lines and select lines of the bank of NAND strings. When a memory transistor within a NAND string is being read, the remaining memory transistors in the string are turned on hard via their associated word lines so that the current flowing through the string is essentially dependent upon the level of charge stored in the cell being read.

FIG. 5 illustrates a page of memory cells, organized for example in the NAND configuration, being sensed or programmed in parallel. FIG. 5 essentially shows a bank of NAND strings 50 in the memory array 210 of FIG. 4B, where the detail of each NAND string is shown explicitly as in FIG. 4A. A “page” such as the page 60, is a group of memory cells enabled to be sensed or programmed in parallel. This is accomplished by a corresponding page of sense amplifiers 212. The sensed results are latches in a corresponding set of latches 214. Each sense amplifier can be coupled to a NAND string via a bit line. The page is enabled by the control gates of the cells of the page connected in common to a word line 42 and each cell accessible by a sense amplifier accessible via a bit line 36. As an example, when respectively sensing or programming the page of cells 60, a sensing voltage or a programming voltage is respectively applied to the common word line WL3 together with appropriate voltages on the bit lines.

Physical Organization of the Memory

One important difference between flash memory and of type of memory is that a cell must be programmed from the erased state. That is the floating gate must first be emptied of charge. Programming then adds a desired amount of charge back to the floating gate. It does not support removing a portion of the charge from the floating to go from a more programmed state to a lesser one. This means that update data cannot overwrite existing one and must be written to a previous unwritten location.

Furthermore erasing is to empty all the charges from the floating gate and generally takes appreciably time. For that reason, it will be cumbersome and very slow to erase cell by cell or even page by page. In practice, the array of memory cells is divided into a large number of blocks of memory cells. As is common for flash EEPROM systems, the block is the unit of erase. That is, each block contains the minimum number of memory cells that are erased together. While aggregating a large number of cells in a block to be erased in parallel will improve erase performance, a large size block also entails dealing with a larger number of update and obsolete data. Just before the block is erased, a garbage collection is required to salvage the non-obsolete data in the block.

Each block is typically divided into a number of pages. A page is a unit of programming or reading. In one embodiment, the individual pages may be divided into segments and the segments may contain the fewest number of cells that are written at one time as a basic programming operation. One or more pages of data are typically stored in one row of memory cells. A page can store one or more sectors. A sector includes user data and overhead data. Multiple blocks and pages distributed across multiple arrays can also be operated together as metablocks and metapages. If they are distributed over multiple chips, they can be operated together as megablocks and megapage.

Examples of Multi-Level Cell (“MLC”) Memory Partitioning

A nonvolatile memory in which the memory cells each stores multiple bits of data has already been described in connection with FIG. 3. A particular example is a memory formed from an array of field-effect transistors, each having a charge storage layer between its channel region and its control gate. The charge storage layer or unit can store a range of charges, giving rise to a range of threshold voltages for each field-effect transistor. The range of possible threshold voltages spans a threshold window. When the threshold window is partitioned into multiple sub-ranges or zones of threshold voltages, each resolvable zone is used to represent a different memory states for a memory cell. The multiple memory states can be coded by one or more binary bits. For example, a memory cell partitioned into four zones can support four states which can be coded as 2-bit data. Similarly, a memory cell partitioned into eight zones can support eight memory states which can be coded as 3-bit data, etc.

All-Bit, Full-Sequence MLC Programming

FIGS. 6(0)-6(2) illustrate an example of programming a population of 4-state memory cells. FIG. 6(0) illustrates the population of memory cells programmable into four distinct distributions of threshold voltages respectively representing memory states “0”, “1”, “2” and “3”. FIG. 6(1) illustrates the initial distribution of “erased” threshold voltages for an erased memory. FIG. 6(2) illustrates an example of the memory after many of the memory cells have been programmed. Essentially, a cell initially has an “erased” threshold voltage and programming will move it to a higher value into one of the three zones demarcated by verify levels vV_(I), vV₂ and vV₃. In this way, each memory cell can be programmed to one of the three programmed state “1”, “2” and “3” or remain un-programmed in the “erased” state. As the memory gets more programming, the initial distribution of the “erased” state as shown in FIG. 6(1) will become narrower and the erased state is represented by the “0” state.

A 2-bit code having a lower bit and an upper bit can be used to represent each of the four memory states. For example, the “0”, “1”, “2” and “3” states are respectively represented by “11”, “01”, “00” and ‘10”. The 2-bit data may be read from the memory by sensing in “full-sequence” mode where the two bits are sensed together by sensing relative to the read demarcation threshold values rV₁, rV₂ and rV₃ in three sub-passes respectively.

Bit-by-Bit MLC Programming and Reading

FIGS. 7A-7E illustrate the programming and reading of the 4-state memory encoded with a given 2-bit code. FIG. 7A illustrates threshold voltage distributions of the 4-state memory array when each memory cell stores two bits of data using the 2-bit code. Such a 2-bit code has been disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/830,824 filed Apr. 24, 2004 by Li et al., entitled “NON-VOLATILE MEMORY AND CONTROL WITH IMPROVED PARTIAL PAGE PROGRAM CAPABILITY”.

FIG. 7B illustrates the lower page programming (lower bit) in a 2-pass programming scheme using the 2-bit code. The fault-tolerant LM New code essentially avoids any upper page programming to transit through any intermediate states. Thus, the first pass lower page programming has the logical state (upper bit, lower bit)=(1, 1) transits to some intermediate state (x, 0) as represented by programming the “unprogrammed” memory state “0” to the “intermediate” state designated by (x, 0) with a programmed threshold voltage greater than D_(A) but less than D_(C).

FIG. 7C illustrates the upper page programming (upper bit) in the 2-pass programming scheme using the 2-bit code. In the second pass of programming the upper page bit to “0”, if the lower page bit is at “1”, the logical state (1, 1) transits to (0, 1) as represented by programming the “unprogrammed” memory state “0” to “1”. If the lower page bit is at “0”, the logical state (0, 0) is obtained by programming from the “intermediate” state to “3”. Similarly, if the upper page is to remain at “1”, while the lower page has been programmed to “0”, it will require a transition from the “intermediate” state to (1, 0) as represented by programming the “intermediate” state to “2”.

FIG. 7D illustrates the read operation that is required to discern the lower bit of the 4-state memory encoded with the 2-bit code. A readB operation is first performed to determine if the LM flag can be read. If so, the upper page has been programmed and the readB operation will yield the lower page data correctly. On the other hand, if the upper page has not yet been programmed, the lower page data will be read by a readA operation.

FIG. 7E illustrates the read operation that is required to discern the upper bit of the 4-state memory encoded with the 2-bit code. As is clear from the figure, the upper page read will require a 3-pass read of readA, readB and readC, respectively relative to the demarcation threshold voltages D_(A), D_(B) and D_(C).

In the bit-by-bit scheme for a 2-bit memory, a physical page of memory cells will store two logical data pages, a lower data page corresponding to the lower bit and an upper data page corresponding to the upper bit.

Foggy-Fine Programming

Another variation on multi-state programming employs a foggy-fine algorithm, as is illustrated in FIG. 7F for a 3-bit memory example. As shown there, this another multi-phase programming operation. A first programming operation is performed as shown in the top line, followed the foggy programming stage. The foggy phase is a full 3-bit programming operation from the first phase using all eight of the final states. At the end of the foggy, though, the data in these states is not yet fully resolved into well defined distributions for each of the 8 states (hence, the “foggy” name) and is not readily extractable.

As each cell is, however, programmed to near its eventual target state, the sort of neighboring cell to cell couplings, or “Yupin” effect, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,870,768 are presenting most of their effect. Because of this, when the fine program phase (shown on the bottom line) is executed, these couplings have largely been factored in to this final phase so the cell distributions are more accurately resolved to their target ranges. More detail on these subjects is given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,870,768 and 6,657,891 and in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/642,740, entitled “Atomic Program Sequence and Write Abort Detection” by Gorobets et al. having attorney docket number 0084567-667US0, filed on Dec. 18, 2009, and which presents a “diagonal” first-foggy-fine method.

Binary and MLC Memo Partitioning

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 illustrate examples of a 2-bit (also referred to as “D2”) memory. As can be seen, a D2 memory has its threshold range or window partitioned into 4 regions, designating 4 states. Similarly, in D3, each cell stores 3 bits (low, middle and upper bits) and there are 8 regions. In D4, there are 4 bits and 16 regions, etc. As the memory's finite threshold window is partitioned into more regions, the resolution and for programming and reading will necessarily become finer. Two issues arise as the memory cell is configured to store more bits.

First, programming or reading will be slower when the threshold of a cell must be more accurately programmed or read. In fact in practice the sensing time (needed in programming and reading) tends to increase as the square of the number of partitioning levels.

Secondly, flash memory has an endurance problem as it ages with use. When a cell is repeatedly programmed and erased, charges is shuttled in and out of the floating gate 20 (see FIG. 2) by tunneling across a dielectric. Each time some charges may become trapped in the dielectric and will modify the threshold of the cell. In fact over use, the threshold window will progressively narrow. Thus, MLC memory generally is designed with tradeoffs between capacity, performance and reliability.

Conversely, it will be seen for a binary memory, the memory's threshold window is only partitioned into two regions. This will allow a maximum margin of errors. Thus, binary partitioning while diminished in storage capacity will provide maximum performance and reliability.

The multi-pass, bit-by-bit programming and reading technique described in connection with FIG. 7 provides a smooth transition between MLC and binary partitioning. In this case, if the memory is programmed with only the lower bit, it is effectively a binary partitioned memory. While this approach does not fully optimize the range of the threshold window as in the case of a single-level cell (“SLC”) memory, it has the advantage of using the same demarcation or sensing level as in the operations of the lower bit of the MLC memory. As will be described later, this approach allows a MLC memory to be “expropriated” for use as a binary memory, or vice versa. How it should be understood that MLC memory tends to have more stringent specification for usage.

Binary Memory and Partial Page Programming

The charge programmed into the charge storage element of one memory cell produces an electric field that perturbs the electric field of a neighboring memory cell. This will affect the characteristics of the neighboring memory cell which essentially is a field-effect transistor with a charge storage element. In particular, when sensed the memory cell will appear to have a higher threshold level (or more programmed) than when it is less perturbed.

In general, if a memory cell is program-verified under a first field environment and later is read again under a different field environment due to neighboring cells subsequently being programmed with different charges, the read accuracy may be affected due to coupling between neighboring floating gates in what is referred to as the “Yupin Effect”. With ever higher integration in semiconductor memories, the perturbation of the electric field due to the stored charges between memory cells (Yupin effect) becomes increasing appreciable as the inter-cellular spacing shrinks.

The Bit-by-Bit MLC Programming technique described in connection with FIG. 7 above is designed to minimize program disturb from cells along the same word line. As can be seen from FIG. 7B, in a first of the two programming passes, the thresholds of the cells are moved at most half way up the threshold window. The effect of the first pass is overtaken by the final pass. In the final pass, the thresholds are only moved a quarter of the way. In other words, for D2, the charge difference among neighboring cells is limited to a quarter of its maximum. For D3, with three passes, the final pass will limit the charge difference to one-eighth of its maximum.

However, the bit-by-bit multi-pass programming technique will be compromised by partial-page programming. A page is a group of memory cells, typically along a row or word line, that is programmed together as a unit. It is possible to program non overlapping portions of a page individually over multiple programming passes. However, owning to not all the cells of the page are programmed in a final pass together, it could create large difference in charges programmed among the cells after the page is done. Thus partial-page programming would result in more program disturb and would require a larger margin for sensing accuracy.

In the case the memory is configured as binary memory, the margin of operation is wider than that of MLC. In the preferred embodiment, the binary memory is configured to support partial-page programming in which non-overlapping portions of a page may be programmed individually in one of the multiple programming passes on the page. The programming and reading performance can be improved by operating with a page of large size. However, when the page size is much larger than the host's unit of write (typically a 512-byte sector), its usage will be inefficient. Operating with finer granularity than a page allows more efficient usage of such a page.

The example given has been between binary versus MLC. It should be understood that in general the same principles apply between a first memory with a first number of levels and a second memory with a second number of levels more than the first memory.

Logical and Physical Block Structures

FIG. 8 illustrates the memory being managed by a memory manager with is a software component that resides in the controller. The memory 200 is organized into blocks, each block of cells being a minimum unit of erase. Depending on implementation, the memory system may operate with even large units of erase formed by an aggregate of blocks into “metablocks” and also “megablocks”. For convenience the description will refer to a unit of erase as a metablock although it will be understood that some systems operate with even larger unit of erase such as a “megablock” formed by an aggregate of metablocks.

The host 80 accesses the memory 200 when running an application under a file system or operating system. Typically, the host system addresses data in units of logical sectors where, for example, each sector may contain 512 bytes of data. Also, it is usual for the host to read or write to the memory system in unit of logical clusters, each consisting of one or more logical sectors. In some host systems, an optional host-side memory manager may exist to perform lower level memory management at the host. In most cases during read or write operations, the host 80 essentially issues a command to the memory system 90 to read or write a segment containing a string of logical sectors of data with contiguous addresses.

A memory-side memory manager 300 is implemented in the controller 100 of the memory system 90 to manage the storage and retrieval of the data of host logical sectors among metablocks of the flash memory 200. The memory manager comprises a front-end system 310 and a back-end system 320. The front-end system 310 includes a host interface 312. The back-end system 320 includes a number of software modules for managing erase, read and write operations of the metablocks. The memory manager also maintains system control data and directory data associated with its operations among the flash memory 200 and the controller RAM 130.

FIG. 9 illustrates the software modules of the back-end system. The Back-End System mainly comprises two functional modules: a Media Management Layer 330 and a Dataflow and Sequencing Layer 340.

The media management layer 330 is responsible for the organization of logical data storage within a flash memory meta-block structure. More details will be provided later in the section on “Media management Layer”.

The dataflow and sequencing layer 340 is responsible for the sequencing and transfer of sectors of data between a front-end system and a flash memory. This layer includes a command sequencer 342, a low-level sequencer 344 and a flash Control layer 346. More details will be provided later in the section on “Low Level System Spec”.

The memory manager 300 is preferably implemented in the controller 100. It translates logical addresses received from the host into physical addresses within the memory array, where the data are actually stored, and then keeps track of these address translations.

FIGS. 10A(i)-10A(iii) illustrate schematically the mapping between a logical group and a metablock. The metablock of the physical memory has N physical sectors for storing N logical sectors of data of a logical group. FIG. 10A(i) shows the data from a logical group LG₁, where the logical sectors are in contiguous logical order 0, 1, . . . , N−1. FIG. 10A(ii) shows the same data being stored in the metablock in the same logical order. The metablock when stored in this manner is said to be “sequential.” In general, the metablock may have data stored in a different order, in which case the metablock is said to be “non-sequential” or “chaotic.”

There may be an offset between the lowest address of a logical group and the lowest address of the metablock to which it is mapped. In this case, logical sector address wraps round as a loop from bottom back to top of the logical group within the metablock. For example, in FIG. 10A(iii), the metablock stores in its first location beginning with the data of logical sector k. When the last logical sector N−1 is reached, it wraps around to sector 0 and finally storing data associated with logical sector k−1 in its last physical sector. In the preferred embodiment, a page tag is used to identify any offset, such as identifying the starting logical sector address of the data stored in the first physical sector of the metablock. Two blocks will be considered to have their logical sectors stored in similar order when they only differ by a page tag.

FIG. 10B illustrates schematically the mapping between logical groups and metablocks. Each logical group 380 is mapped to a unique metablock 370, except for a small number of logical groups in which data is currently being updated. After a logical group has been updated, it may be mapped to a different metablock. The mapping information is maintained in a set of logical to physical directories, which will be described in more detail later.

Memories Having Multi-Level and Binary Portions

Memory Partitioned into Main and Binary Cache Portions

A number of memory system arrangements where the non-volatile memory includes both binary and multi-level sections will now be described. In a first of these, in a flash memory having an array of memory cells that are organized into a plurality of blocks, the cells in each block being erased together, the flash memory is partitioned into at least two portions. A first portion forms the main memory for storing mainly user data. Individual memory cells in the main memory being configured to store one or more bits of data in each cell. A second portion forms a cache for data to be written to the main memory. The memory cells in the cache portion are configured to store less bits of data in each cell than that of the main memory. Both the cache portion and the main memory portion operate under a block management system for which cache operation is optimized. A more detailed presentation of this material is developed in the following US patent application or provisional application Ser. Nos. 12/348,819; 12/348,825; 12/348,891; 12/348,895; 12/348,899; and 61/142,620, all filed on Jan. 5, 2009.

In the preferred embodiment, individual cells in the cache portion are each configured to store one bit of data while the cells in the main, memory portion each stores more than one bit of data. The cache portion then operates as a binary cache with faster and more robust write and read performances.

In the preferred embodiment, the cache portion is configured to allow finer granularity of writes than that for the main memory portion. The finer granularity is more compatible with the granularity of logical data units from a host write. Due to requirement to store sequentially the logical data units in the blocks of the main memory, smaller and chaotic fragments of logical units from a series of host writes can be buffered in the cache portion and later reassembly in sequential order to the blocks in the main memory portion.

In one aspect of the invention, the decision for the block management system to write data directly to the main portion or to the cache portion depends on a number of predefined conditions. The predefined conditions include the attributes and characteristics of the data to be written, the state of the blocks in the main memory portion and the state of the blocks in the cache portion.

The Binary Cache of the present system has the follows features and advantages: a) it increases burst write speed to the device; b) it allows data that is not aligned to pages or meta-pages to be efficiently written; c) it accumulates data for a logical group, to minimize the amount of data that must be relocated during garbage collection of a meta-block after the data has been archived to the meta-block; d) it stores data for a logical group in which frequent repeated writes occur, to avoid writing data for this logical group to the meta-block; and e) it buffers host data, to allow garbage collection of the meta-block to be distributed amongst multiple host busy periods.

FIG. 11 illustrates a host operating with the flash memory device through a series of caches at different levels of the system. A Cache is high-speed storage for temporarily storing data being passed between a high-speed and a slower-speed component of the system. Typically high-speed volatile RAM are employed as cache as in a host cache 82 and/or in a controller cache 102 of the memory controller. The non-volatile memory 200 is partitioned into two portions. The first portion 202 has the memory cells operating as a main memory for user data in either MLC or binary mode. The second portion 204 has the memory cells operating as a cache in a binary mode. Thus, the memory 200 is partitioned into a main memory 202 and a binary cache.

On-Memory Folding of Data into Multi-State Format

The various sorts of non-volatile memories described above can be operated in both binary forms and multi-state (or multi-level) forms. Some memory systems store data in both binary and multi-state formats; for example, as data can typically be written more quickly and with less critical tolerances in binary form, a memory may initial write data in binary form as it is received from a host and later rewrite this data in a multi-state format for greater storage density. In such memories, some cells may be used in binary format with others used in multi-state format, or the same cells may be operated to store differing numbers of bits. Examples of such systems are discussed in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,456,528; US patent publication number 2009/0089481; and the following U.S. patent application Nos. 61/142,620; 12/348,819; 12/348,825; 12/348,891; 12/348,895; and 12/348,899. The techniques described in this section relate to rewriting data from a binary format into a multi-state format in a “folding” process executed on the memory device itself, without the requirement of transferring the data back to the controller for reformatting. The on-memory folding process can also be used in a special way to manage error correction code (ECC) where the relative state of the data in the memory cell, when stored in multi-state form, is taken into account when considering that the most probable errors are transitions between the neighboring states. (So called “Strong ECC” or “SECC”, where additional background detail on these subjects can be found in the following US patents, patent publications, and patent application numbers: 2009/0094482; 7,502,254; 2007/0268745; 2007/0283081; 7,310,347; 7,493,457; 7,426,623; 2007/0220197; 2007/0065119; 2007/0061502; 2007/0091677; 2007/0180346; 2008/0181000; 2007/0260808; 2005/0213393; 6,510,488; 7,058,818; 2008/0244338; 2008/0244367; 2008/0250300; and 2008/0104312.) The system can also use ECC management which does not consider state information and manages ECC based on single page information.

More specifically, in one exemplary embodiment, as data is transferred from the controller to the memory, it is written along word lines of the memory array in a binary format. Subsequently, the data is then read into the registers associated with the array, where it is rearranged so that it can be written back into array in a multi-state form. To take the case of three bits per cell, for example, the content of three word lines would be each be read into the register structures, rearranged to correspond to the three bits that would be stored in each cell, and then rewritten back to a single word line of the array in a 3-bit per cell format. In the arrangement described here, the binary data content of a single word line is then end up on 1/Nth of a word line store in an N-bit per cell format. For cases where the eventual N-bit storage of the data uses an error correction code (ECC) that exploits the relation of the multi-states with a cell, this ECC can be determined in the controller and transferred along with the corresponding data and stored in the binary format prior to the data (and corresponding ECC) being rewritten in the multi-state format.

The idea of folding data from a binary to a multi-state, or MLC, format can be illustrated with FIG. 12 for one particular 3-bit per cell example. As shown by the arrow, data is received from the controller (or host) and written in binary format in a block 611 of the memory. Three of the written word lines (613, 615, 617) of the block 611 are explicitly shown. The content of these three word lines are then rewritten in a 3-bit per cell format along the single word line 623 of block 621, with the “folding” process accomplished on the memory itself. (More generally, if the data is written along 621 in an N-bit per cell format, the content of N-word lines of binary content would be folded up in this manner. This block 611 may specifically assigned to be operated in only binary mode or may be a block operable in a MLC mode by, for example, just the lowest page of multiple logical pages storable on a physical page. Similarly, block 621 may be assigned only for multi-state operation or may be operable in binary mode as well.

Some detail on how one exemplary embodiment folds the data from the multiple binary format word lines into a single word line is shown in FIG. 13. At the top of FIG. 13 are the three word lines 613, 615, and 617, which are each split into three parts (a, b, c) of a third of the cells along a corresponding third of the bit lines (here taken as contiguous). On word line 623, the three thirds of the first word line (613 a-c) are arranged onto to first third of the of the word line; similarly, the second binary word line 615 is folded and written into the middle third of 623 and the third word line from the binary block 617 is written into the last third of 623.

The process shown in FIG. 13 generalizes in a number of ways. A first of these is in the number of states stored per cell in the multi-state format. Although FIGS. 12 and 13 show the case where three pages of data are rewritten from three physical pages into multi-state format on a single physical page, other numbers of storage densities can be used. (For example, to simplify the following discussion, particularly that related to the register structure, the 2-bit per cell case will often be used as the exemplary embodiment.) Also, although full word lines (each here corresponding to a page) are shown, in system that allow partial page operation, partial pages may be used. Additionally, although FIG. 13 shows the case where cells along the word line are split into groups along contiguous bit lines for folding, other arrangements can be used. In the following sections, “folding” will generally refer to the sort of process where data is read from several locations in the binary section into the data read/write registers and then re-written into multi-state form in the MLC memory section, most easily visualized for the example of reading out N binary word lines and re-writing them on a single word line in N-bit per cell format; and although the folding can involve the sort of on-chip transpositions illustrated with respect to FIG. 13, more generally it may also be the more straight forward direct copy type of folding.

As noted above, the folding process is performed on the memory itself, so that once the data is transferred in from the controller (or host) and written in binary format, it is rewritten into the array without transferring it off the memory. The exemplary embodiments accomplish this by reading the data of the multiple binary word lines (e.g., 613, 615, 617) into the corresponding registers (or latches) associated with the array, rearranged within these registers into the form needed for multi-state programming, and then rewritten into a single word line (e.g., 623) of a multi-state block. Thus, under the arrangement of FIG. 13, the binary content of several (here 3) cells on the same word line, but along different bit lines, are read into the associated data registers, and then rearranged to correspond to the multi-bits of a single cell on a corresponding single bit line, from where it can be written.

Although this folding has here been described as folding N logical pages of data from N physical pages of binary memory to one physical page of N-bit per cell memory. (Here, the physical page is taken as a whole word line.) More generally, the logical data can be scattered in any fashion between physical pages. In this sense, it is not a direct 3-page to single page mapping, but is more of a mapping with 3-to-1 ratio. More detail on on-chip data folding is given in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/478,997 filed on Jun. 5, 2009. Further detail and structures useful for folding as also presented in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/478,997 filed on Jun. 5, 2009.

Binary/Multi-State Memory Using Folding

FIG. 14 shows another example of a non-volatile memory that includes both binary and multi-state memory portions. The binary part of the memory, D1 blocks 301, includes both control data, such as file access tables (FAT), in the resident binary zone 311 and a binary cache area 313. For this discussion, these areas can be taken to be similar to those described above in the Binary Cache section above and the references cited therein. These areas are updated and compacted within themselves and do not enter further into this section. The memory also includes the multi-state (3-bit in this example) memory portion of D3 blocks 303. The D1 and D3 blocks 301 and 303 can be distributes across various semi-autonomous arrays (i.e., dies or planes within a die). (More generally, the distinction between where the updates may be stored in memory and the “bulk” storage need not be based on, or at least not characterized in terms of, binary versus multi-level, but could also be slow versus fast, relatively high endurance versus lower endurance, small block structure versus large block, or other qualitative property.)

In the exemplary embodiment, data is first written to the binary block 301 and then folded into D3 blocks. For example, once three 3 pages are written into the binary memory, then can then be folded into a single page in D3 memory 303 or follow the sort of diagonal lower-foggy-fine programming method described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/642,740, entitled “Atomic Program Sequence and Write Abort Detection” by Gorobets et al., filed on Dec. 18, 2009. In the on-chip folding embodiment, the binary and MLC portions will be from different blocks formed along the same bit lines. More generally, other rewrite techniques can be used. Although in some embodiments data may written directly to multi-state memory, under this arrangement discussed here user data is first written from the volatile RAM into binary memory and then “triplets” (for the D3 example) of pages, such as in 315 for the logical groups X, X+1 and X+2, that are then combined and stored in a multi-state format as a “newly intact” physical page 331, where it is stored along with other such previously written “original” pages 333. When data of one of the pages stored in a D3 block is updated, rather than store the updated data in a D3 block, this can, at least initially, stored in a binary block Update Block, or UB, 317, as is described in the next section.

Virtual Update Blocks

When updating data for some data already stored in the D3 memory, if this data is updated in the D3, this would require a multi-state rewrite using, for example, the exemplary diagonal first-foggy-fine method. Such a programming can require the buffering of data for 3 or more word lines until the data is fully written, possibly including the non-updated old data stored in MLC form on the same word line as the date to be updated. In addition to speed considerations and the memory wear this can introduce, in the case power loss or power cycle, all data for partially programmed word-lines can be lost. In the aspects presented here, the updated data is initially written to binary memory as an update block (UB) logically associated with the corresponding page of data in the MLC memory section. The updated data can itself be further updated in another binary block (an update of an update block, UoUB). If needed, the updates can then be consolidated and folded into a D3 block. A “virtual update block”, or “VUB”, will then consist of three full update blocks (or, more generally, on large logical group according the structure used in the system). Such a VUB will then be the update block for a D3 block, where the “virtual” referring to that it consists of three update blocks.

In one set of preferred embodiments, the architecture features Update Blocks that consist of three D1/Binary blocks where a full image of all data to be programmed to D3 block is created prior to a folding operation of copying data from the D1 blocks to a D3 block using, for example, a foggy-fine programming operation. Referring again to FIG. 14, this illustrates data flow in the system, with respect to which an exemplary embodiment is now described in more detail.

D3 blocks are written by the operation of folding, or copying of the entire Logical Group triplet, or set of 3 adjacent Logical Groups, from single, fully written closed Virtual Update Block, or set of three D1 blocks containing data for the Logical Group triplet, one each. In other words, all Logical Groups in the triplet will be fully consolidated to Virtual Update Blocks in D1 memory 301 before folding to D3 memory 303. (In other embodiments, D3 blocks can be programmed with new data without being written to a virtual update block in D1, but that is not preferred here as it requires a large data buffer where data will be vulnerable in case of power loss.)

The Logical Group needs to be consolidated together into the last Update block with ECC check upon read from flash sources and ECC correction if necessary. The D1 Update blocks can be allocated and used in much the same way as Update blocks are used in the references cited above in the “Memory Partitioned into Main and Binary Cache Portions” section above, storing data for one Logical Group each. FIG. 15 illustrates an update group with one update block. For one of the logical groups in the D3 block 401, here the “middle” one, updated data comes in and is stored in the D1 block 403. The shaded portion 405 corresponds to this updated data, with 407 the unused portion. Prior to the updated data being stored in the update block 403, this block 403 need not be previously associated with the D3 block 401, but being assigned and logically associated as needed.

In this way, D1 meta-blocks can be allocated to Update Groups (UGs). Multiple D1 metablocks can be allocated to an UG as per the Update of Update mechanism shown FIG. 16. Subsequent to the initial update of the data, which is stored in D1 block 403, a further update of the data set comes in from the host. Another D1 block 409 is then assigned for this update of the update (UoU), which can include updated data for the earlier update 405 as well as for parts of this logical group that were not updated in the first update.

The three logical groups (here labelled as LG X, LG X+1, LG X+1) that will be stored in a common D3 metablock such as 401 are here referred to as a Logical Group Triplet. Prior to folding all related UG's for a logical group triplet will be consolidated to a single UB each, as shown in FIG. 17, where UB 403 and UB 409 are consolidated for LG X+1. The data from the original block 401 for LG X and LG X+2 is then used to be folded into the new block 401′.

More than one of the logically groups on a D3 block can be updated in this way, as shown in FIG. 18. As shown there, all there on the logical blocks in the physical D3 block have been updated, or an update of an update, with D1 block 409, 411, and 413 before eventually being folded back into a D3 block 401′.

D1 Update Blocks can allocate dynamically, on demand. This helps to reduce the amount of copy overhead required to support operations such physical scrambling and allows for more efficient use of D1 blocks to support the update of update mechanism. For embodiments, such as the exemplary embodiment, that use on-chip data folding, all of the D1 blocks allocated to an update group for a Logical Group are located in the same die. In a multi-die configuration, the block selection algorithm preferably attempts to open virtual update blocks in all dies evenly. Once a open virtual update block is created in die X, then all other die preferably have one open virtual update block created before the next open virtual update block is created in die X. A limitation to this rule can be when other dies run out of free blocks. In addition to leveling erase/rewrite counts among all blocks, the wear leveling algorithm should preferably attempt to balance the number of free blocks between all die.

FIG. 19 shows an alternate embodiment. As before, the virtual update block (VUB) consists of three UBs, as it contains data for a whole D3 block before folding. The alternate embodiment differs in that the VUB has data for one D3-block-sized logical group (LG), whereas the main embodiment it has data for three D1-block-seized logical groups. As the smaller logical groups are joined into a triplet, the operation is similar: if folding is needed, the system will need to collect three D1 blocks to make full VUB before folding. The difference is that for the exemplary addressing scheme (one GAT entry per LG, where a GAT entry has meta-block address and page tag value) is that with small LGs, the system can allow individual LGs have their own page tag offset and minimise the amount of copy in the case if the host update for two or three LGs in triplet and D1 update blocks have different Page Tags. In this case, the system can combine those UBs into VUB without copy to make the Page Tag the same.

This arrangement also can support the higher performance of a parallel folding mode, such as is described in a US patent application entitled “Method and System for Achieving Die Parallelism Through Block Interleaving”, having attorney docket number 10519/1131 and being filed on Dec. 18, 2009, as it supports a virtual update block consolidation in that is de-coupled from folding operations. Also, as frequently updated Update blocks are in D1 blocks pool, with the D3 block pool being preferably used only for intact blocks, the system should experience higher endurance. By maintaining the update blocks in binary and only writing to MLC memory for intact blocks, this further allows for an on-chip data folding that supports physical data scrambling.

Reverse Eviction to Binary Cache

Considering FIG. 14 (or FIG. 19) further, for the purposes of this section the non-volatile can be taken as having three parts: a binary cache section 313; the D3 blocks 303; and the update blocks 317 and 315. As discussed above, the D3 section 303 is the primary storage area for user data; but due to the nature of how data is written into this section, as updates for data already written into this section come in for the host they are placed into the update memory until eventually being written into the MLC memory. There is typically only a limited number of blocks allotted for update memory. This section considers the situation where an updated data is received from the host, but an update block is not available. More specifically, this section presents a process where an update block can be freed up for a new update by a reverse eviction to the binary cache from a current update block.

Many of the aspects presented in the following can be described with respect to FIG. 20. FIG. 20 can be taken as a simplified version of FIGS. 14 and 19 that shows many of the elements relevant to the discussion here as well also being able to represent other arrangements of memory devices using a non-volatile binary cache, such as US patent publication US-2010-0174846. The memory device 510 includes a controller 511 and the memory section 500. The memory device can be a memory card, for example, but could also be an embedded device, SSD drive and so on. The memory section 500 is formed on one or more chips and, for the purposes of this discussion, includes a binary cache 505, an MLC memory portion 503, and an update memory 501. As described above, the MLC portion 503 is the primary area in which user data is written. Data within the MLC memory 503 is not readily updated, due, for example, to the need to be written in multi-state format, to the use of large block structures, or some combination of these and other factors. Consequently, when the host 513 sends to the memory device 510 updated data corresponding to data already stored in MLC 503, the controller will typically direct this data to the update memory 501 set aside for this purpose. (Note that although this primary memory 503 is here taken to be multi-state memory, and even called MLC, in some embodiments this could even be binary memory that is not readily updated due to, for example, the use of large block structures.) The update memory 501 can store data in a binary format or a multi-state format. For example, in the preceding sections above, the update memory is binary while the MLC section stored 3-bits of data per cell, while US patent publication US-2010-0174846-A1. presents an arrangement where both the MLC section and the update memory store 2-bts of data per cell. More generally, the update memory 501 will store from 1 to N bits per cell, depending on the embodiment, where in is the number of bits per cell stored by the MLC memory 503. To some extent, when the MLC memory 503 only stores a few bits per cell (as in the N=2 case of US patent publication US-2010-0174846), it may be a better choice to have the update memory 501 store the same; but when the MLC memory stores more bits (as in the N=3 case above) and is correspondingly more complex to program, it may be a better choice to use a binary update memory 503.

Referring still to FIG. 20, when the host 513 sends updated data to the memory device 510, the controller 511 will send the update to the update memory 501. If this update corresponds to a set of data for which there is currently an open update block (and it has room), the new update it is written there. If not, it is written to a new block in the update memory 501; however, the memory system will generally only allow a limited number of update blocks. This maximum number of update blocks may be determined by the number allowed by a data management structure, or, in other cases, by be determined by the number of physical blocks available. When a new update block is needed, and the maximum allowed number are already in use, one of the update blocks currently in use will need to be removed to create the space. Under the arrangement described in the previous sections, this is accomplished by the system's firmware closing an update block or update group and writing the data to the MLC section 503, which may require a folding operation. This sort of eviction operation is time consuming and may impact the memory device's performance, particularly during random operations. In some cases, it may still be the best choice to close out an update block and send the data to the MLC section 503, but this section presents a process where the data from an update block can be selected for a reverse eviction to binary cache 505, thereby freeing up room in the update memory 501 for the new update.

The different portions of the memory 500, and more detail in general on non-volatile memory systems using a non-volatile binary cache, are described further in the preceding sections above and also in the following related US patent application numbers, all filed on Dec. 18, 2009: U.S. Ser. No. 12/642,584; 12/642,740; 12/642,611; and 12/642,649. Other implementations of non-volatile memory systems using a non-volatile binary cache can also be found in US patent publication US-2010-0174846-A1, cited above, and the related US patent publications US-2010-0174845, US-2010-0172179-A1, US-2010-0172180-A1, and US-2010-0174847-A1, along with the provisional application 61/142,620 filed on Jan. 5, 2009

The update blocks 501 are dedicated to receiving updates of data in MLC memory 503 and are maintained from a Master Index Page, which keeps track of the logical to physical mapping for the update blocks of 501 as well as for the MLC blocks of 503, so that in this exemplary embodiments there is no control data in the update block itself. Data can also be stored directly into the update block. The details of how the update memory section 501 is implemented will vary from system to system. In the sort of Virtual Update Block (VUB) arrangement in the preceding section, the update blocks 501 are treated as temporary storage, where, when updates are closed out, the content of update blocks are folded up and written into the MLC memory 503. Under the sort of arrangement presented in US patent publication US-2010-0174846-A1, the update memory 501 is itself multi-state (2-bits per cell in the exemplary embodiments described there) so that if the host has written the data sequentially, for example, the data would only need to be written once, with the written block then be reassigned from update memory 501 to the MLC memory 503 (also 2-bits per cell in the exemplary embodiments) and the GAT updated to reflect this as the data is in its final location.

Under the arrangement of the preceding sections involving VUBs, the MLC memory 503 uses a 3-bit per cell format. Writing to such an MLC memory is relatively complex, so that the system does not write directly to the MLC memory 503. Instead, the update memory 501 is a binary memory that acts as intermediate storage. In the embodiments presented in US patent publication US-2010-0174846-A1 and related applications, although the update memory 501 uses a multi-state format Update Blocks are still used since, until the entire block is written, it is preferred not to reference it in the final storage data structure (the GAT). Because of this, it is kept in the temporary working set of as Update Blocks. This allows the firmware to manage repeated writes to the same Logical Group without large numbers of extra garbage collections which would likely impact the endurance by increasing write amplification.

Data corresponding to the MLC memory 503 is stored in the GAT. Under the addressing scheme of the exemplary embodiment, the firmware does not update this GAT when new data is written to an Update Block of 501, or to the Binary Cache 505. Rather, the way the system finds data is related to how it searches for data. As the data in the Binary Cache 505 is newer than the Data in the Update Blocks of 501, which is in turn newer than the data recorded in the GAT, the system searches in this order so that the newest copy of the data is returned.

The introduction of a reverse eviction from the update memory 501 to the binary cache 505 can improve the performance of the flash memory section 500. As discussed, previous versions of firmware required Update Block or Update Group resources to be free in order to write new incoming host data. If there are no such free update blocks (or update groups), then the firmware would need to close an open update block/group, which may require a folding operation. This operation is time consuming and may impact the cards performance during random operations. A main purpose of introducing the reverse binary eviction this section is to reduce the number of update block/group close operations required in the system.

Without the availability to send a block from the update memory 501 to the binary cache 505, the controller would often have to close an update group which may have very few metapages written to the update block. In this case, the amount of data copied in order to close the update group can be significant. (For example, in a typical implementation, several megabytes copied where less than 128 Kb of data was written to the update block.) Is such cases, it would be more efficient to copy the data currently written to the update block somewhere else, rather than copying data into the update block to close it.

If we have data written to an update block of the update memory which is less than a given configurable threshold, and the system needs a resource to be freed in order to write the incoming host data, then the firmware can copy this data to the binary cache and free the update block (or blocks) without the requirement for a garbage collection or folding operation that a transfer to the MLC memory would require. The binary cache will have this data recorded as the most up to date version of the data, so it will always return the correct version to the host on a read.

If the host has only written this small amount of data for this logical group to the device, then storing it in the binary cache temporarily until there is a better time to evict is better for performance than the close operation. This arrangement will have an impact on the binary cache, however it is possible that there is more data for this logical group in the binary cache already due to misaligned writes, resulting in a more efficient eviction from the binary cache at the point that this logical group is selected for eviction.

One of the bigger gains from this scheme presented in this section will be found where the system has large logical group sizes, for example as described in the preceding sections, where the logical group size is that of an MLC block. However, a similar gain could be found in cases where the system has small logical group sizes. Taking an example where many logical groups are stored in a single block, if the system has a block open with only one or two logical groups written to it, the same principles can be applied. By either copying the data to binary cache or to another update block, the amount of data being coped can be reduced. In a system with small logical groups it would be possible to free resources faster by selecting only the valid data in an update block and copy that. For example, if the same logical group has been written a number of times to the same update block, only the most recent copy is valid. If this is the only logical group in the update block, then copying this data to the binary cache would free the entire block, with no need to copy data from other blocks into this update block. In many cases this will be more efficient. The goal is to minimize the amount of data which needs to be copied around the system to free a resource.

FIG. 21 is an exemplary flow for when the host sends updated data to the memory system. Beginning at 601, the memory system receives an update from the host and the controller needs to decide what to do with it. The firmware first checks at 603 on whether an update block corresponding to the new update is already available in the update memory and, if so, writes in the new update at 605. If not, the controller checks at 607 on whether or not there are any free blocks available in the update section to which the update can be written into the update memory at 617.

For the exemplary embodiment, the determination of whether or not a new entry can be written into the update memory (607) is based on the current number of entry is at or below the maximum allowed number of such entries. For the arrangement here, this is determined by data management structure and how many such update blocks the firmware is capable of handling. In other cases, it may be determined by the number of physical blocks available. Since the system can support a large number of such structures, it is possible to have situations where there are less blocks available than the maximum number that the data structure can support. In other cases, it is possible to limit the number by configuration files to meet certain product requirements. In any case, if the maximum number of update blocks are already in use, a block needs to be freed up for the new update. In this embodiment, the firmware first checks at 609 on whether any of the update blocks are suitable for closing.

In 609, the system checks on whether or not there are any blocks for which it would be preferable to close out and send to the primary user data storage area of the MLC memory, instead of performing a reverse eviction to cache. Although this closing out may be relatively more involved or time consuming, possibly involving the folding of data, copying data, reassigning blocks and so on, there may be update blocks that are largely ready to be closed and, if there system has the time, this would a sensible point to perform this operation. Various criteria can be used for this decision and these may differ based on the specifics of the system: for example, if the update memory is binary and a folding operation would be needed, this would have different considerations than when both the update memory is multi-state memory of the same level as the MLC section. Some the criteria could include: the amount of space available in the non-volatile cache portion; the amount of data that would be needed to be copied; how recently the block has been written; the update memory holding data of a sequential span corresponding to a region of the primary user data storage (multi-state) section; or various combinations of these and other concerns. In any, if it is decided to close out a block to MLC memory, this block is then closed out (611) and then the update can then be written into the freed up space of the update memory at 617.

If there is no block considered suitable to be closed out to MLC memory and it is instead consider preferable to perform a reverse eviction, at 613 a block is selected to send to the binary cache. This selection can again be based on various criteria, such as the amount of valid data contained by the block; the frequency with which the block has been written to or amount of time since a previous update of the corresponding data; the number of times same data written (update of update); or various combinations of these and other concerns. The selected block is then sent to the binary cache at 615, after which the update can be written into the update memory (617).

There are a number of specific cases where this mechanism will provide higher performance. As a first example, under previous arrangements, if a host starts running Speed Class style writes after a period of random writes, the speed class performance will be slower due to the “cleanup work’ required to be performed at the start of the write sequence. Using this mechanism, the excessive copies required to create virtual update groups would be avoided, and only the minimum amount of data would be copied. The data written to the binary cache at this time would not cause any issues in Speed Class as the writes are aligned and write to full logical groups so the binary cache can be cleaned up during the next random write sequence.

As with the speed class case, when random short writes are being sent to the memory system, in previous implementations, once an update block is open, the only mechanism to close it is to close out the update group (including any needed folding of data into an MLC format), which may require copying significant amounts of data (including logical groups which have not been written at all in the preceding host commands) in order to create a VUG. By using the scheme of this section, the amount of data copied is reduced to only that which is currently in the update block, and in almost all cases this would be less data than creating a VUG.

The scheme of this section also offers an ability to improve endurance, since the previous schemes involve routing more data to the binary to prevent update block opening. By allowing the update block to be opened, the sequential endurance is maximized, as the update block will be fully utilized, without additional writes to the binary cache, and during random writes, the number of copies is reduced which should also help in reducing overall wear on blocks.

CONCLUSION

The foregoing detailed description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The described embodiments were chosen in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto. 

1. A method operation a non-volatile memory system, the memory system including a controller circuit and a memory section formed on one or more integrated circuits, the memory section having a non-volatile cache portion storing data in a binary format, a primary user data storage section of flash memory wherein the memory system stores user data in multi-state format, and an update memory area where the memory system stores data updating user data previously stored in the primary user data storage section, wherein the memory system allows a maximum number of blocks of memory cells for use in the update memory area, the method comprising: receiving at the controller updated data corresponding to user data already written into the primary user data storage section; determining whether a block of memory is available in the update memory area; in response to determining that a block of memory is available in the update memory area, writing the updated data to the available block; and in response to determining that a block of memory is not available in the update memory area: determining a block of the update memory to remove from the update memory; copying the data content of the determined update block into the cache portion of the memory section; and subsequently writing the updated data into the update memory.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein subsequent to receiving at the controller updated data corresponding to user data already written into the primary user data storage section and prior to determining whether a block of memory is available in the update memory area, the method further comprises: determining whether the update memory area currently includes a block corresponding to said user data already written into the primary user data storage section, wherein said determining whether a block of memory is available in the update memory area is performed in response to determining that the update memory area currently does not include a block corresponding to said user data already written into the primary user data storage section.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether a block of memory is available comprises determining the number of blocks in use in the update memory area is the maximum allowed number.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to determining that a block of memory is not available in the update memory area: determining whether to transfer the content of a block from the update memory to the primary user data storage section; in response to determining to transfer the content of a block from the update memory to the primary user data storage section: transferring the content of the determined block from the update memory to the primary user data storage section; and subsequently writing the updated data into the update memory, and wherein the process of said determining a block of the update memory to remove from the update memory, copying the data content of the determined update block into the cache portion of the memory section, and subsequently writing the updated data into the update memory is performed in response to determining not to transfer the content of a block from the update memory to the primary user data storage section.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein criteria for determining whether to transfer the content of a block from the update memory to the primary user data storage section includes the amount of space available in the non-volatile cache portion.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the block to be transferred to the primary user data storage section is selected based upon the amount of data that would be needed to be copied.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein the block to be transferred to the primary user data storage section is selected based upon how recently the block has been written.
 8. The method of claim 4, wherein criteria for determining whether to transfer the content of a block from the update memory to the primary user data storage section includes the update memory holding data of a sequential span corresponding to a region of the primary user data storage section.
 9. The method of claim 4, wherein the update memory stores data in a binary format and said transferring the content of the determined block from the update memory to the primary user data storage section includes combining multiple logical pages of data into a multi-state format and subsequently writing the combined logical pages of data in multi-state form in the primary user data storage section.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the update memory stores data in a binary format.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the update memory stores data in a multi-state format.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the update memory stores data with the same number of bits per cell as the primary user data storage section.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria for determining which block of the update memory to remove from the update memory includes the amount of valid data contained by the block.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein criteria for determining which block of the update memory to remove from the update memory includes the frequency with which the block has been written to.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein criteria for determining which block of the update memory to remove from the update memory includes the number of times a set of data therein has been updated.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein criteria for determining which block of the update memory to remove from the update memory includes the amount of data written therein.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the maximum number of blocks allowed by the memory system for use in the update memory area is determined by the data management structure used by the controller.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the maximum number of blocks allowed by the memory system for use in the update memory area is determined by the number of physical data blocks available for use as update memory.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether a block of memory is available comprises determining the number of blocks in use in the update memory area is the maximum allowed number, and wherein the maximum number of blocks allowed by the memory system for use in the update memory area is determined by the number of physical data blocks available for use as update memory. 